Mike Ashley: Fraser Stores and Ashley Battles

mike ashley: Just over six months after Mike Ashley's retail group bought the upmarketdepartment store chain out of administration for 90m, his apparent ambition to turn it into the Harrods of thehighstreet is hard to detect, according to The Guardian. Sports Direct deal saves four House of Fraser stores Read more As Ashley battles for control of Debenhams, he is trying to convince the struggling retailer's board and shareholders he's the only man with the first-class leadership skills to turn around its fortunes. No, this is not a branch of Sports Direct but House of Fraser in Richmond, one of the wealthiest suburbs of London. But a look around his existing department store empire might raise questions over those ambitions. The Guardian visited four House of Fraser stores this month, in Richmond, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Sutton Coldfield, and found a grim state of affairs. In December, Sports Direct revealed House of Fraser was losing nearly 3m a week and some key suppliers, including Jigsaw and Edinburgh Woollen Mill group brands Jacques Vert, Jane Norman and Jaeger had pulled out. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.